And a bit about Jimmy Stewart.
He was talking about the difference between designing something like Shadow Complex and designing something like Infinity Blade.
The difference, he made it sound - the main difference - was where the player sat.
When they fire up Shadow Complex, they’re on the sofa in front of the big TV.
They’ve maybe cleared a chunk of time, made themselves a drink.
As a designer you’re free to trust that you’ll have the player for quite a while.
With Infinity Blade, though, well, where are they?
Waiting at the deli?
Sitting at the dentist?
And so you make the game differently.
It rewards players in shorter loops.
It dangles more threads to tempt them to stick around a little longer.
I often think about this.
But last night I found myself thinking about it in a different way.
I was playing Outer Wilds,which has just released on the Switch.
I think maybe I was curious to see how the game held up.
(And while I’m not Digital Foundry, I can say that it held up fine for me.
Maybe a bit more loading, but everything else was exactly as I would want it to be.)
It was a revelation.
And again, it’s down to where I sat.
It is, I reckon, one of the best games ever made.
Anyway, when I first played Outer Wilds I was sat at my desk in the Eurogamer office.
It was a classic case of the Donald Mustard Sofa Scenario.
I booked time out.
I probably had a root beer nearby.
This was absolutely what I was doing for the next few hours.
Last night, though, I was returning to a game that I already knew pretty well.
But also, I was playing it on a handheld and lounging, laid out on our chaise longue.
(I make no apologies for that sentence and everything it contains.)
An aside here, but it’s important.
Our chaise longue is not fancy or vintage, but it does the job.
There is something about a chaise longue - stick with me - that makes me feel like Jimmy Stewart.
I am suddenly all angles and elbows.
I am whimsical all of a sudden, prone to idle thoughts and sudden rabbit holes.
It’s a pretty nice to state to be in.
Here’s the thing, though: I had never played Outer Wilds like this.
Suddenly, I wasn’t trying to solve the riddle of the solar system.
Instead, I was playing in a very speculative manner.
I was on holiday, basically, in this compact and deeply cursed universe filled with wonders.
I was a tourist.
So inevitably I took in the sights.
I went to Giant’s Deep first.
But this time, I was just taking it all in, going where I fancied.
I was eating lunch in a quiet graveyard.
I knew there was meaning all around me, but I didn’t feel the need to untangle it.
My first time loop wrapped up at While Hole Station, actually.
I emerged from the event horizon (do I have that right?)
and the sun was already angry and red in front of me.
And the game responded beautifully.
And I think - I think!
- it was all because I was playing on a different console.
